When building a wall with any stud, whether wood or steel, it is necessary to ensure that sequential studs are held in fixed positions relative to each other and also that they do not tend to twist or move laterally. In wood-stud walls, a short wood piece is typically nailed in place between adjacent studs to stabilize each of the studs. In steel stud walls, a bridge having a channel, also known as a bridging member, is typically inserted horizontally through a pre-punched opening in each of the vertically disposed studs to keep the studs aligned. Since a steel stud has relatively good columnar strength when straight, but loses a significant portion of this strength if twisted, the bridge is made to fit the punched opening with small tolerances to minimize twisting of the stud. In addition to mechanical twisting, studs can twist or bend from the heat of a fire once the wall-surface drywall sheet has been destroyed. When the studs twist or bend, they effectively lose their ability to support weight, adding to the damage caused to the building from the fire.
While such a bridge keeps the studs from twisting, it is not adequate to keep the studs from shifting or bending in a direction parallel to the wall being built. A simple right angle sheet metal bracket has been available to prevent this bending or shifting, although its installation is comparatively labor intensive. A user places the bracket with one section on top of the horizontal bridge channel and the other section against a stud. Screws are inserted through the holes in each section to affix the bracket to the stud and the channel. The bracket relies on the screws to accomplish its task, and relies on the installer for correct positioning.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,023 (the “023 patent”) discloses a bridge clip which has a first portion which straddles the linear channel member and a second portion perpendicularly connected to the first portion. In a first embodiment, the clip of the invention disclosed in the '023 patent has a front plate for engaging a front surface of the stud and a rear plate connected to the front plate by a bridge and adapted for engaging a rear surface of the stud. The bridge passes through the opening in the stud. Holes are provided in each portion for the insertion of anchoring fasteners. In a second embodiment disclosed in the '023 patent, the clip includes the straddle portion which is perpendicularly connected to a planar portion adapted for engaging the front surface of the stud with no part contacting the rear surface. The clip of the second embodiment disclosed in the '023 patent is fastened to the channel member and the stud. The invention described in the '023 patent further provides a third embodiment having a front plate and a rear plate which are each formed with a stiffening rib and having a portion formed by drawing a pair of depending legs in a saddle plate for straddling the linear channel. This third embodiment in the '023 patent allows the use of a lighter gage metal sheet without a significant loss of stiffness.
Examination of the drawings in the '023 patent shows that the channel is pointed downward and the bridge clip is unusable for a channel designed to face upward.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,356,453, 8,813,456, and 9,016,024 all disclose bridge clips, but, like the '023 patent, in each case the channel is pointed downward making the bridge clip unusable for an upward facing channel.
There exists therefore a need for a bridge clip which can be used where the channel of the bridge is facing upward so that the channel of the bridge can be used for holding cabling and electrical wires.